When She Had
Finished Her Meal Her Husband Told Her Of The Trick And Seemed To Enjoy
The Terror With Which She Contemplated The Consequences Of The
Involuntary Breach Of Her Vow.
Vows of this nature are often made by a
Cree before he joins a war party, and they sometimes, like the eastern
bonzes, walk for a certain number of days on all fours or impose upon
themselves some other penance equally ridiculous.
By such means the Cree
warrior becomes god-like; but unless he kills an enemy before his return
his newly-acquired powers are estimated to be productive in future of
some direful consequence to himself.
As we did not witness any of the Cree dances ourselves we shall merely
mention that, like the other North American nations, they are accustomed
to practice that amusement on meeting with strange tribes before going to
war and on other solemn occasions.
The habitual intoxication of the Cumberland House Crees has induced such
a disregard of personal appearance that they are squalid and dirty in the
extreme; hence a minute description of their clothing would be by no
means interesting. We shall therefore only remark in a general manner
that the dress of the male consists of a blanket thrown over the
shoulders, a leathern shirt or jacket, and a piece of cloth tied round
the middle. The women have in addition a long petticoat; and both sexes
wear a kind of wide hose which, reaching from the ankle to the middle of
the thigh, are suspended by strings to the girdle.
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